See Storage On Mac

You'll also see how much free disk space you have available on each drive, listed just beneath each drive name. RELATED: How to Check Free Disk Space on a Mac If you want more details on your internal storage, click the 'Overview' button, then click 'System Report.'. In the Activity Monitor app on your Mac, click Memory (or use the Touch Bar) to see the following in the bottom of the window: Memory Pressure: Graphically represents how efficiently your memory is serving your processing needs. Memory pressure is determined by the amount of free memory, swap rate, wired memory, and file cached memory.

1. Other On Mac Storage
2. How To Check Storage Mac
3. How To See Storage On Mac

In this age of terabyte flash drives and cloud storage, it's easy to forget that storage space is finite. But it is, and as software gets more sophisticated and must-have apps become more plentiful, you can eat through a 1TB SSD in no time at all.

Sure, in theory, if your Mac hard drive gets full you can just upgrade, but at around $800 for a 2TB iMac SSD and $2800 for a 4TB SSD neither option is exactly affordable. Plus, it's not just room for files that you get from a hard drive, it directly affects performance too. Let your hard drive get full and see how sluggish your Mac runs. Actually, don't do that you'll drive yourself crazy.

For optimum performance, you should continually monitor Mac hard drive space to make sure there's always room for your next big download. Keep reading to learn how to find storage on your Mac and use it more efficiently.

How to check storage on your Mac?

The simplest way to check Mac hard drive space is by accessing About This Mac. Top mac apps 2017.

1. Click on the Apple icon and choose About This Mac.
2. Click on Storage.

Other On Mac Storage

Note: If you're running an older version of OS X, you may need to click More Info to find the Storage option.

The Storage tab will show you how much space is being taken up by the System, Documents, Apps, and more. It will also display available space.

What to do when your hard drive is full?

If your Mac hard drive is nearing capacity, your system will let you know with a 'disk almost full' warning prompting you to free up some space.

If you see this warning it's best to act on it. To free up space on your startup disk you'll need to do one or all of these three things:

• Delete files
• Move files over to cloud storage or an external hard drive
• Install a second hard drive or add a larger startup disk

Options 1 and 2 are the easiest, but if you're thinking of upgrading your existing disk, check out our guide.

If you're running macOS Sierra or higher, you can get some free space by optimizing your storage with in-build tools. To do this, go to the Apple menu and select About This Mac. Here, go to the Storage tab and press Manage.

In the window that appears, you can see some tips on reclaiming free space. Here's how to manage storage on your Mac:

1. Click Store in iCloud. Choose what data you want to transfer to iCloud and confirm.
2. Click Optimize to remove movies and TV programs.
3. Turn on Empty Bin Automatically.
4. Click Reduce Clutter to review all your documents.

This is a quick and easy way to free up space but it's not ideal. You see, when files are moved to iCloud, junk and useless files are moved too. This means you max out your iCloud storage quicker and end up having to pay for more. For this reason, we recommend using CleanMyMac X to detect junk files and completely remove them from your system.

Delete large and old files first

Usually, old large files are the biggest space wasters on our Macs. It probably happens to anyone: you open your brand new MacBook and download multiple files, which seem to be very useful at first. But, later, you forget about these items, and they end up cluttering your storage. It's time to dig up these old massive files. And CleanMyMac X can help you out with that task.

With a dedicated Large & Old Files module, you can quickly clear your Mac.

1. Download CleanMyMac X (a free trial is available).
2. Install and launch the app.
3. Go to the Large & Old files module.
4. Press Scan.

Now, all you have to do is select old files that CleanMyMac X has found and press Remove.

Another CleanMyMac X useful feature is Space Lens. It builds a virtual map of your storage, so you can see where all your space is gone. You need just to hover over any folder to find out its weight or click it to view its contents.

How to free up Mac hard drive space manually

Deleting files manually is a simple task, but it can also be time-consuming. The best way to go about it is to find old documents, downloads, music, and applications you no longer need and drag them to the Trash.

When you do this you'll need to remember to empty the Trash, otherwise, files will just sit there and free up no space at all.

1. Right-click Trash in the Dock.
2. Select Empty Bin and confirm.

You can also remove old iTunes Library backups, iOS backups and updates, and clear cached files using the Finder.

1. Open a Finder window and select Go in the menu bar.
2. Click on Go to Folder and enter one of the following commands:

• Caches:~/Library/Caches
• iTunes Library backups:
  ~/Music/iTunes/Previous iTunes Libraries
• iOS backups:
  ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/
• iOS software updates iPad:
  ~/Library/iTunes/iPad Software Updates
• iOS software updates iPhone:
  ~/Library/iTunes/iPhone Software Updates

3. Browse each of the folders and delete any files you no longer need.

As said, clearing files manually is easy but it comes with one rather sizeable caveat: moving things to Trash leaves behind a residue — leftover pieces of files that serve no purpose other than to take up hard drive space. There you are doing your best to remove files only for Mac to be incapable of fully deleting whatever you want to get rid of.

So, what can you do about that? Yep… CleanMyMac X.

Freeing up Mac hard drive space with CleanMyMac X

CleanMyMac X scours your system for all old, outdated, and broken files, and completely removes them from your system. It's the quickest and easiest way to free up a lot of space at once.

If you need to optimize disk space in a hurry, download CleanMyMac X and select the option to clean up System Junk. This will remove old cache files and logs, broken app data, unused languages, and excessive versions of documents in a couple of clicks.

1. Download and launch CleanMyMac X.
2. Choose System Junk from the menu.
3. Click Scan.
4. Click Clean.

A full disk is something all Mac users experience at some point. Thankfully, it's easy to reclaim space using Mac's own optimization feature or the Finder if you're doing things manually, or CleanMyMac X if you prefer a more comprehensive solution. As you'll likely need to clean up the hard drive a few times a year, we'd suggest going down the CleanMyMac X route but, of course, we're biased. Try the different methods and see what works best for you.

Keep your Mac in good shape

I hope you managed to find out what exactly took too much space on your Mac. Here're some tips to prevent clutter in your storage in the future:

• Clear old files

To use your storage more efficiently, you need to declutter your Mac once in a while. Remove apps, documents, photos, and media that you don't need on your Mac. Transfer your data to the hard drive or store it in the cloud. A perfectly organized storage also boosts your productivity, which is another advantage of keeping your space tidy.

• Delete apps completely

And by 'completely,' I mean together with all the files associated with the app. Dragging an app to the Trash will probably leave its data in your system. So, make sure you remove your apps using native uninstallers or special tools, like CleanMyMac X.

• Empty Trash

This is pretty straightforward advice, but many of us still forget to do it. Trashed files can take gigantic amounts of space. Remember to clear the Bin after you deleted some files on your Mac.

• Update your software

When you Mac acts laggy, you may think it's running out of space. But, outdated software can cause the same symptoms. Updates often contain bug fixes and improvements that can positively affect how your app and your Mac run. Updating both OS and apps to the latest version will ensure the smooth performance of your machine.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is taking up so much space on my Mac?

To find out what's taking storage on your Mac, go to the Apple menu. Here, choose About This Mac. Go to the Storage tab and click Manage to see how much space takes each category.

How to find large files on Mac?

In Finder, press the little gear icon and select Show Search Criteria. Click Kind filter and choose Other. Then select File Size from the list. Select 'is greater than' criteria in the second box. Enter the size (for example, 400 MB), and then the search results will update, showing you the large files on your Mac.

How much space should the system take up on Mac?

Mac's system takes about 20 GB on average. If your Mac's system is considerably bigger than 20-25 GB, try emptying the Trash. Performing a clean install may be necessary in some cases – it will reinstall your OS and clear your storage. But, make sure to back up your data first.

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Frequently ending up in a situation where your Mac storage is low? It makes you wonder where all the drive space is going, right? Here is the right place for you. We are going to learn how to check storage on Mac, and how can we free up the storage space on your device when we find out the disk is almost full.

How to See Storage on Mac

In macOS, you can check the disk capacity and how the storage is being consumed by using the built-in utilities of the operating system. We are discussing the solutions available to check storage on Mac.

Solution 1：About This Mac [The Most Common Way]

Available for macOS X 10.10 or later

More recent flavors of macOS give you a very simple way to check how much storage you have on Mac with About This Mac. It's a nice and easy tool to view basic information about your machine in a single window. Go to Apple Menu > About This Mac and select the Storage tab. You can view how the storage of your Mac is distributed between System, Documents, Apps, Photos and available free space.

What Storage Categories You Will See in the 'Storage' Section

Once you have gotten know how to check Mac storage, you need to get more useful information in the 'Storage' section. Let's dig deeper and see what all things are using up the storage space. The Storage section in About This Mac contains the following categories in which the storage is divided; Apps, Movies, Audio, Photos, systems, Backups and the one category that frustrates you the most, Others.

Let's see, one by one, what all these categories contain:

• Apps – it contains all application files (*.app files) and the executable files stored on your Mac.
• Audio – it contains music files and other audio files. It will include iTunes and music library files.
• Photos – it contains any kind of photo media that is stored in your local drive or imported photo files from your iPhone or another device.
• Movies – it contains all video files on your mac, including files of iMovie, iTunes download or any other downloaded video file.
• Backups – it contains your local backups from the Time Machine, also includes your iPhone backup.
• Others – it contains all the other documents which cannot be categorized in the above-mentioned items. It includes any zip files, archives, text or pdf documents, disk images, iso files, etc.

Solution 2: Disk Utility

Available for macOS 10.14

Using the Disk Utility app built in macOS is also one of the ways on how to check available space on Mac. You need to open Spotlight in your Mac and type Disk Utility in the search box, select the application to open. Another method is to go to Applications > Utilities and find Disk Utility.

Disk Utility shows you all the storage drives connected to your mac. You can select one of the drives listed in the sidebar to see the disk space utilization bar including information such as Capacity, Available space, Volume Type, etc.

Solution 3: More Info

Available for Mac OS 10.7 or Later

In the earlier versions of macOS, the About This Mac shows the software version screen of macOS. Click More Info to show the information window and select the Storage tab. The storage tab shows the drive information and how much storage you have available on your Mac.

Solution 4: Get Info

Available for Mac OS 10.6 or Earlier

To check available space on Mac, there is another way using the Finder app. When you open Finder window, you can see the Locations in the bottom left side (In the sidebar of Finder app). From the storage devices listed there, right-click on the one which you are interested in and click Get Info. You can now see a window showing the details of your drive. Under the General column, you can see the information like capacity of the drive, how much storage is available on your Mac and how much space is used.

Solution 5: Terminal utility

Only Recommend for Advanced macOS Users

A more sophisticated way of checking your disk storage can be used for advanced technical users. You will be using the Mac Terminal application to view storage this way. Some basic commands will show you a whole lot of numbers on your screen, but that shouldn't scare you. Once we tell you how to view storage on Mac, you will know what every item on the display means.

All you need to do is open the Terminal window. Type ‘df –h' and you will be able to see this window on your screen. Read the line mentioning ‘File System, Size, Used, Avail, Capacity and so on'.

What to do When You Find out The Mac Storage is Almost Full

Now, you know how to check how much storage you have on Mac. And you will get a annoying answer -Your Mac doesn't have enough space. Yes! The dreadful message your Mac can ever show you is this: ‘Your disk is almost full'.

When your Mac storage is reaching its limit, your macOS will give you a notification telling you to manage your space optimally. Since we know that the Mac is almost always right, we should follow the advice and start cleaning up space. Freeing up space on your Mac can be little less than easy and can take up a lot of your time; one easy way to do this is to use third party app such as Umate Mac Cleaner.

Editor's Pick: Free up More Storage on Mac with Umate Mac Cleaner

To make more storage space available on your Mac, we recommend using Umate Mac Cleaner. It is an efficient and easy tool to make your Mac perform better by cleaning up of your machine quickly.

Umate Mac Cleaner can be used to clean up more than 40 types of junk files available on your system. It quickly cleans your Mac from all the unwanted files taking up your storage. Depending on how much space you want to free up on the machine, the application gives you 2 different cleanup modes to select from; Quick Clean and Deep Clean.

Quick Clean: It is not every time you would need to use Deep Clean on your system, most of the time a simple scan on the Quick Clean mode can fix all your problems. Quick clean will clean up the system and application junk files along with trash bin and unused installation packages. It will make space available for your Mac to run better.

Deep Clean: Once you have run Quick Clean and you think there can be more files available on your Mac which you don't need and can be cleaned, you can run this utility to clean up your iOS junk, downloaded files, larger files or any unused disk image available on your disk.

Other main features of Umate Mac are also useful to free up storage space on Mac, like Erase Private Data (clean up private data to protect your privacy and get more storage) and Manage Apps & Extensions (uninstall unused apps and remove unnecessary extensions on your Mac to release more space). Both these features can be used according to your system requirement and both are proven to work.

How To Check Storage Mac

Mac tools dealer. Why Choose Umate Mac Cleaner to Free Up Space on Mac

• Significantly free up 4X disk space for your Mac.
• Free up more storage space on Mac within just single click, greatly save your time.
• Compatible with iMac, Macbook Pro/Air running macOS 10.14-10.9.
• Lots of Mac users Likes our app / recommended and trusted by many famous tech sites.
• User-friendly interface and very easy to use.

1. Launch Umate Mac Cleaner and select a desired feature, then hit Scan button.
2. After scanning, preview the scanned results and choose those items you want to delete.
3. Then you can follow the on-screen prompts to operate accordingly for cleaning up your Mac and free up more space.

Conclusion

How To See Storage On Mac

There are many simple ways to check storage on Mac. The point is you should take action when you find out the Mac disk is full. The next thing is to free up more storage space on Mac. And Umate Mac Cleaner is already here to provide you with the simplest and user-friendly experience with powerful features.